The Doctrine Of The Hypostatic Union
The hypostatic union refers to what had taken place at the First Advent when the eternal, pre-existing, God the Son took on human form in order to serve as the Lamb of God, and it that capacity, atone for the sin debt for the fallen human race.
There are a host of misconceptions in this area of theology that have produced many false doctrines and practices inside and outside of the Christian Community.
Some of these false doctrines include the reducing of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ to only human status, denying or at the very least diminishing His deity, as well as the completeness of the finished (John 19-30) work He accomplished on the cross.
Evidence that such false doctrines exist is found in all the additional requirements that Man in the name of religion has added to the single Biblical requirement of faith in order to obtain or retain salvation.
Other false doctrines and practices presume to elevate the human participant (Mary) to a status or function-ability co-equal with Deity.
No one can dispute the part that Mary was called to play in providing the humanity in order for God the Son fulfill God’s plan for salvation.
At the same time, neither she nor anyone else ever took on a position or function of Deity, as a result of fulfilling their part in the plan of God.
The great men and women of Scripture that God used to fulfill His plan remained to be sinners saved by the grace of God (Romans 3: 23).
Believers, then and now (1Cor. 12: 18), are used by God to fulfill His plan, but it is HE and not we that does the work (John 15: 5/).
God, and God alone, is to be worshiped. Going to ANY other source for temporal or heavenly blessing(s), real or imagined, demonstrates a lack of faith in God to deliver, or an attempt to get “now” what God may have in mind for some point in the future. Even if it were possible, what is it that any such source of blessing can do for any one of us that God, if it were truly His will, would not have already done for us?
The devil has a long record of counterfeiting the activity of God. Just as God performed supernatural deeds to establish the credibility of His spokespersons and/or His agenda, so will the devil to the extent to that God allows (Matthew 24: 24).
All that may appear to be a “blessing” does not necessarily mean that it came from the hand of God (Luke 4: 6).
If it is not God that is glorified in the process, there is solid grounds on which to question the source of “miraculous” activity.
The devil will make use of anything he can that will deny God the glory.
God the Son, in His divine nature, did not become any less God as a result of the hypostatic union, and at NO time was ANY human being elevated to a position of deity, outside of what the false religion has promoted.
God the Son, in His deity (divine nature) always did, does now, and always will share a co-equal place as a Member of the Triune Godhead consisting of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
The plurality of the Godhead is clearly documented by the use of the pronouns, “Us” and “Our” in Genesis 1: 26 (NASB), at the time that “God” created Man.
Before we take a look at the solution (God’s plan for salvation), we should first set the stage by understanding what was lost at the Fall of Man, and why it was/is that Man was/is incapable (independent of God) to do anything about it.
God created Man with a physical body, an everlasting soul, and a living human spirit.
Adam was provided with a physical body that God formed out of the dust/dirt of the ground. God breathed the breath of natural life into the nostrils (Gen. 2: 7) of Adam at the same time God placed, in the body of Adam, a live human spirit that allowed his everlasting soul to be in fellowship with God. Adam’s soul was given the freedom and responsibility of a free will to make choices.
The first male human being, in its created format consisted of body, soul, and spirit.
The woman, later named Eve, received her physical body that God created from Adam’s rib (Gen. 2: 23). She, like Adam, received the breath of natural life, a soul, and a live human spirit that allowed her soul to be fellowship with God.
The first female human being in its created state was body, soul, and spirit.
On the day of the Fall of Man, Adam and Eve’s bodies remained physically alive and retained their everlasting (never to die) souls, but their human spirits “died”, in that they were no longer in fellowship with God.
Unlike Adam and Eve who were created with a human spirit in fellowship with God, all of their offspring (and the generations that their descendants would reproduce) would come into this world with a “dead” (out of fellowship) human spirit in need of regeneration.
At the appointed (Psalms 31: 5/Heb. 9: 27) times, the bodies of Adam, Eve, and of the generations to follow would die and turn to dust (Genesis 3: 19). Where the departed soul would go would hinge on the regeneration (or lack of it) during the time span that each soul was HERE on Earth. Once departed, there is NOTHING that can be said or done by anyone that will EVER alter the location of where any given soul has gone, once it has left the body at the moment of physical death.
On the day of the Fall (Gen. 2: 17), the live human spirits of Adam and the woman “died”, in that it was then that they fell out of fellowship (2 Cor. 13: 14) with God.
This brought the spiritual death condition into the human environment that continues to be passed down to the humanity of the generations of Man through the male partner at the moment of conception (Psalms 51: 5).
The spiritual death condition becomes a part of our total being when God (not our parents) creates and places the soul that He (John 3: 6) creates into the body that comes forth at birth, at the same time that the human being receives its FIRST breath of natural life (Gen. 2: 7) and become a living soul on its own, being “disconnected” from the natural life support system of the mother.
As a result of the Fall of Man, every newborn human being that comes into this world through the human reproductive process has a “dead” (out of fellowship) human spirit in need of regeneration.
If not regenerated in during the course of its life span here on Earth, the soul is destined to find itself in the Torments of Hades upon departing the body, and eventually find him/herself in what the Bible calls the lake of fire (Rev. 20: 13, 15).
The ONLY Biblical exceptions to this fate, are individuals who, due to circumstances beyond their control, never reach the age or stage of moral accountability (2 Sam 12: 23), OR souls (if there are any) that are never presented with the opportunity to hear the true Gospel. Souls who never reach the age or stage of moral accountability go to Heaven (2 Sam 12: 23). Souls who reach the age or stage of moral accountability, but never hear the Gospel (or given the opportunity to do so) are judged on the basis of what information they did receive, beginning with the concept of eternity that God places in every soul that He creates (Eccl. 3: 11).
The lake of fire is NOT a place of extermination, but is a place of NEVER ending torment and separation from God, prepared for the devil and the fallen angels (Matt. 25: 41), and all human souls who choose to reject the Gospel Message (John 3: 18/Rev. 20: 15, 18).
Not only did Adam and the woman receive the spiritual death condition, they also received the fallen sin nature that is essentially rebellious and hostile (Romans 8: 7) towards God and the things of God.
This same (spiritually dead) condition (and its influence) would be passed down from Adam (1 Cor. 15: 22) to the generations of Man through the male partners during the reproduction process (Psalms 51: 5).
Not only is this sin nature hostile towards God and the things of God, it is VERY receptive to all the false doctrines that the devil can generate. This receptiveness is what finds a home for Man-made “religion” in the souls of spiritually dead or spiritually immature believers.
The passing down of the sin nature via the male participant in the reproduction process is what took Adam out of the picture as being able to father an offspring that would have the capacity to atone for the sin debt of humanity.
Have no doubt about it, the, “the wages (payback/penalty) for sin is death (Rom. 6: 23). Divine discipline, here on Earth, can be manifested via physical (Acts 5) death of the body, but as far as future eternity is concerned, the ultimate penalty for sin is spiritual death, amounting to separation from the fellowship of God in the what the Bible calls the lake of fire.
The Lord Jesus Christ, in His humanity, suffered both spiritual death (Psalms 22: 1) and physical death (John 19: 30) on the cross. His spiritual death, while alive and shedding His blood, atone for the sin debt of the Mankind, whereas His physical death prepared Him for His resurrection.
Not only would Adam’s offspring not be able to produce an offspring capable of the work that Lord accomplished on the cross, all of his offspring would only perpetuate the continuation of the spiritual death condition throughout the generations of all Mankind.
ALL female offspring receive the same spiritual death condition and a hostile sin nature as do their male counterparts, from their own natural fathers. This places both the male and female members of the fallen human race in the same boat and with the same need for regeneration.
The only difference between the two is that it is through the male partner that the sin nature and its accompanying spiritual death condition is passed down to the humanity of the offspring produced.
As of the Fall, the devil had to of thought that he had won the spiritual battle between he and God, with the souls of Man being the spoils of war that he would receive.
At the very least, the devil knew that he achieved a great strategical advantage in the realm of spiritual combat (Eph. 6) with the generations of Man now be predisposed to receiving all of the deception that he could and would generate in the name of religion.
After all, if the devil was able to influence the Fall of Man at a time when Man was spiritually alive and not having a sin nature, the future generations that come into the world spiritually dead with a hostile sin nature should be easy prey (1 Pet. 5: 8).
The human race, that was created for the glory of God failed. Fallen Man was in a position that Man could be done to save themselves, and were not in a position to produce to the means to satisfy the death requirement (Rom. 6: 23) that the justice of God demands.
Nothing takes God by surprise, He knew that Man would Fall, just as He knew that the devil (in his created form-Ez. 28: 15, 16) would (and did) fail.
God’s plan of salvation was NOT a knee-jerk reaction to the Fall of Man. Every aspect of God’s plan for the salvation of Man (including the hypostatic union was planned out in the mind of God BEFORE the physical earth or Man were ever created (Rev. 13: 8).
To our benefit, the human reproduction process that God created did not exclude women as being the human means to give birth to a spiritually alive offspring, p-r-o-v-i-d-i-n-g one of them could conceive the same type (spiritually alive and without a sin nature) of sinless humanity that Adam and Eve had before the Fall.
If such a conception (without the involvement of a male human partner) were possible, the humanity of the offspring produced would not receive either the spiritual death condition or the accompanying sin nature that would have otherwise been passed down to it. God, without violating the free will of Man could bring about the MEANS for the salvation of Mankind.
The free-will of Man was not and is not compromised as each individual soul must choose to believe or disbelieve the Gospel, bringing about the blessing or the curse of that decision (John 3: 18).
With such a humanity, the Offspring would then have the means to atone for the world’s sin debt by being an acceptable, substitutionary (in our place) sacrifice.
“Therefore, when He comes into the world He says, Sacrifice and offering (Old Testament rituals) Thou has not desired (as a final solution), but a (human) body Thou has Prepared for Me (Heb. 10: 5).”
It would not be until thousands of years after Man fell that the identity of Mary as being the female human being who would be used of God to produce the humanity (Luke 1: 26-35) that the Lord Jesus Christ would take on at the First Advent.
Until then, the members of the human race were held accountable (and saved) by choosing to believe in the plan of God to the extent that it was made to known in the dispensations (periods of time) in which they lived.
Spiritual death is the condition of ALL human beings that come into this world via the human reproduction process (Psalms 51: 5).
Contrary to what religion would have us believe, the one and only remedy for this spiritual condition is the regenerating Work of God the Holy Spirit (Titus 3: 5) that automatically takes FOLLLOWING a conscious act of the soul choosing to believe in a presentation of the TRUE Gospel Message.
“Water” baptism rituals were a POST (after) salvation activity that involved adult believers AFTER they were born again. The “required” baptism as it pertains to salvation, is the work of God that automatically takes place at the moment of salvation when a soul chooses to believe in a presentation of the Gospel. Further details on the subject of baptism can be studied in the Doctrine of Baptism presentation.
Man, in the fallen state in which he/she comes into this world is. “… is hostile toward God; for it does NOT subject itself to the law of God, for it is not able to do so (Romans 8:7 NASB/italics mine).”
This is why Man, apart from the pre-salvation ministry of God the Holy Spirit making the Gospel understandable, cannot save himself. Because of the fallen nature he/she receives, he/she is predisposed to be hostile towards God and the things of God. It is the pre-salvation Work of God the Holy Spirit that makes the TRUE Gospel understandable so that the recipient of the Gospel Message can make an informed decision to believe or to reject it.
While producing the physical body (John 3: 6a) necessary for the soul that God (John 3: 6b) creates to exist here on Earth, the human reproduction process is also the means through which the spiritual death condition and the fallen (hostile) nature are conveyed to the offspring.
It’s not that Mary and Joseph could not produce offspring (Matt. 13: 55, 56), but that the offspring they could produce (with Joseph being involved) would not have escaped the passing down of the sin nature and the spiritual death condition.
Mary, (being female) could and was used by God to conceive (without Joseph) and deliver the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ at the first advent, without having the sin nature passed down to the His humanity.
Joseph did play an important role, as well. It was he who desired NOT to have Mary accused of infidelity (and likely stoned to death), preserving the developing humanity in her womb. After the Lord took on the humanity when it came forth at birth, Joseph continued to play a ey role in the preservation and safety of our Lord’s humanity. It was, in part, thorough Joseph’s faith and actions that protected the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ from a premature death. I believe that the timing of Joseph’s death (before the public ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ) was so that he would not unwittingly interfere with the Lord’s arrest, “conviction”, and “execution”, having devoted his life to the protection of the Lord’s humanity.
NO ONE should dispute the important roles that both Mary and Joseph played in the plan of God.
Without a doubt, the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ loved his earthly mother as much as any godly man loves his own. One of the last earthly deeds He produced while nailed to the cross, was to arrange for her care by John after His death (John 19: 27).
At the same time, neither Joseph nor Mary, or any other human being was ever raised up to be the recipient of prayer or any other form of worship or divine function that belongs to God alone.
What DID take place at the First Advent was that via the hypostatic union the Second Member of Trinity (God the Son) took on the form of sinless humanity in order to become the means in which He would atone for the world’s sin on the cross.
What did NOT take place, is that HE did not lose any of the divine attributes that HE has always, is now, and will forever share with God the Father and God the Son.
However, in order to accomplish the Work that He came to perform, there were times that the plan required that He function within the self-imposed limitations and restrictions of the humanity that He took upon Himself, and there were times that the plan of God called for Him to function with the divine attributes of Deity.
Perhaps in no other area of doctrine is it so important to compare Scripture with Scripture. Focusing ONLY on the documented times when He was functioning via the self-imposed limitations of His humanity (Heb. 4:15/Heb. 2:18/Matt. 4: 2, 6/Psalms 22: 1, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17/ Isa.52: 14/ Isa. 53: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11/Luke 22: 44), can cause one (as many “religions” do) to perceive in Him a diminished degree of Deity, or even deny that He was of Deity at all (Luke 22: 71).
At the same time, focusing ONLY on the documented times when He was clearly functioning via His Deity (Matt. 4: 23/Matt. 14: 25/ Matt. 15: 34-37/ Luke 4: 40. 41/Luke 5: 6, 13, 20/ Luke 7: 10, 14-15, Luke 8: 24, 29, 54/Luke 13: 13/ Luke 14: 4, etc.), cause persuade one to fail to appreciate the tremendous pressure and suffering He endured in His humanity in our behalf.
The Earthy purpose for the humanity He took on at the First Advent was “finished-John 19:30” when the atoning work on the cross was fully accomplished. Note, that at that moment, He was still physically alive, and even so, the atoning Work had already been accomplished.
The physical death and later rising of His dead human body was to set the stage for His eventual Ascension (Acts 1: 9), and for His Session (Psalms 110: 1/Matt. 22: 44) that is still in progress today. The Session will end at the Rapture (1 Thess. 4: 17) at its appointed time in the future.
His post burial appearances were for the purpose of providing evidence of the resurrection and that the justice of God had been fully satisfied (Acts 17: 31) via the Work that the Lord Jesus Christ had accomplished while physically alive and ON the cross.
On the evening following the crucifixion, His human body was wrapped in burial clothing (strips of material) and was placed in a tomb.
After the resurrection, He appeared to several persons in the same body (John 20: 27) that was placed in the tomb, but was now in resurrected form and no longer subject to the self-induced limitations that the same humanity imposed during the time of His Earthly ministry that led up to the cross (Luke 24: 31/).
When Scripture (Hebrews 13: 8) speaks of the immutability (never changing) attribute of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is speaking of His divine nature, not of His incarnation (taking on of human flesh) or of the changes in His body that took place as of the resurrection.
It is via the divine attributes of omnipotence (all powerful) and omnipresence (the ability to anywhere and everywhere at the same time) that enables all three Members of Trinity to indwell the human bodies of all born again believers here on Earth, as well as to occupy the throne room of God in the 3rd Heaven.
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The hypostatic union refers to what had taken place at the First Advent when the eternal, pre-existing, God the Son took on human form in order to serve as the Lamb of God, and it that capacity, atone for the sin debt for the fallen human race.
There are a host of misconceptions in this area of theology that have produced many false doctrines and practices inside and outside of the Christian Community.
Some of these false doctrines include the reducing of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ to only human status, denying or at the very least diminishing His deity, as well as the completeness of the finished (John 19-30) work He accomplished on the cross.
Evidence that such false doctrines exist is found in all the additional requirements that Man in the name of religion has added to the single Biblical requirement of faith in order to obtain or retain salvation.
Other false doctrines and practices presume to elevate the human participant (Mary) to a status or function-ability co-equal with Deity.
No one can dispute the part that Mary was called to play in providing the humanity in order for God the Son fulfill God’s plan for salvation.
At the same time, neither she nor anyone else ever took on a position or function of Deity, as a result of fulfilling their part in the plan of God.
The great men and women of Scripture that God used to fulfill His plan remained to be sinners saved by the grace of God (Romans 3: 23).
Believers, then and now (1Cor. 12: 18), are used by God to fulfill His plan, but it is HE and not we that does the work (John 15: 5/).
God, and God alone, is to be worshiped. Going to ANY other source for temporal or heavenly blessing(s), real or imagined, demonstrates a lack of faith in God to deliver, or an attempt to get “now” what God may have in mind for some point in the future. Even if it were possible, what is it that any such source of blessing can do for any one of us that God, if it were truly His will, would not have already done for us?
The devil has a long record of counterfeiting the activity of God. Just as God performed supernatural deeds to establish the credibility of His spokespersons and/or His agenda, so will the devil to the extent to that God allows (Matthew 24: 24).
All that may appear to be a “blessing” does not necessarily mean that it came from the hand of God (Luke 4: 6).
If it is not God that is glorified in the process, there is solid grounds on which to question the source of “miraculous” activity.
The devil will make use of anything he can that will deny God the glory.
God the Son, in His divine nature, did not become any less God as a result of the hypostatic union, and at NO time was ANY human being elevated to a position of deity, outside of what the false religion has promoted.
God the Son, in His deity (divine nature) always did, does now, and always will share a co-equal place as a Member of the Triune Godhead consisting of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
The plurality of the Godhead is clearly documented by the use of the pronouns, “Us” and “Our” in Genesis 1: 26 (NASB), at the time that “God” created Man.
Before we take a look at the solution (God’s plan for salvation), we should first set the stage by understanding what was lost at the Fall of Man, and why it was/is that Man was/is incapable (independent of God) to do anything about it.
God created Man with a physical body, an everlasting soul, and a living human spirit.
Adam was provided with a physical body that God formed out of the dust/dirt of the ground. God breathed the breath of natural life into the nostrils (Gen. 2: 7) of Adam at the same time God placed, in the body of Adam, a live human spirit that allowed his everlasting soul to be in fellowship with God. Adam’s soul was given the freedom and responsibility of a free will to make choices.
The first male human being, in its created format consisted of body, soul, and spirit.
The woman, later named Eve, received her physical body that God created from Adam’s rib (Gen. 2: 23). She, like Adam, received the breath of natural life, a soul, and a live human spirit that allowed her soul to be fellowship with God.
The first female human being in its created state was body, soul, and spirit.
On the day of the Fall of Man, Adam and Eve’s bodies remained physically alive and retained their everlasting (never to die) souls, but their human spirits “died”, in that they were no longer in fellowship with God.
Unlike Adam and Eve who were created with a human spirit in fellowship with God, all of their offspring (and the generations that their descendants would reproduce) would come into this world with a “dead” (out of fellowship) human spirit in need of regeneration.
At the appointed (Psalms 31: 5/Heb. 9: 27) times, the bodies of Adam, Eve, and of the generations to follow would die and turn to dust (Genesis 3: 19). Where the departed soul would go would hinge on the regeneration (or lack of it) during the time span that each soul was HERE on Earth. Once departed, there is NOTHING that can be said or done by anyone that will EVER alter the location of where any given soul has gone, once it has left the body at the moment of physical death.
On the day of the Fall (Gen. 2: 17), the live human spirits of Adam and the woman “died”, in that it was then that they fell out of fellowship (2 Cor. 13: 14) with God.
This brought the spiritual death condition into the human environment that continues to be passed down to the humanity of the generations of Man through the male partner at the moment of conception (Psalms 51: 5).
The spiritual death condition becomes a part of our total being when God (not our parents) creates and places the soul that He (John 3: 6) creates into the body that comes forth at birth, at the same time that the human being receives its FIRST breath of natural life (Gen. 2: 7) and become a living soul on its own, being “disconnected” from the natural life support system of the mother.
As a result of the Fall of Man, every newborn human being that comes into this world through the human reproductive process has a “dead” (out of fellowship) human spirit in need of regeneration.
If not regenerated in during the course of its life span here on Earth, the soul is destined to find itself in the Torments of Hades upon departing the body, and eventually find him/herself in what the Bible calls the lake of fire (Rev. 20: 13, 15).
The ONLY Biblical exceptions to this fate, are individuals who, due to circumstances beyond their control, never reach the age or stage of moral accountability (2 Sam 12: 23), OR souls (if there are any) that are never presented with the opportunity to hear the true Gospel. Souls who never reach the age or stage of moral accountability go to Heaven (2 Sam 12: 23). Souls who reach the age or stage of moral accountability, but never hear the Gospel (or given the opportunity to do so) are judged on the basis of what information they did receive, beginning with the concept of eternity that God places in every soul that He creates (Eccl. 3: 11).
The lake of fire is NOT a place of extermination, but is a place of NEVER ending torment and separation from God, prepared for the devil and the fallen angels (Matt. 25: 41), and all human souls who choose to reject the Gospel Message (John 3: 18/Rev. 20: 15, 18).
Not only did Adam and the woman receive the spiritual death condition, they also received the fallen sin nature that is essentially rebellious and hostile (Romans 8: 7) towards God and the things of God.
This same (spiritually dead) condition (and its influence) would be passed down from Adam (1 Cor. 15: 22) to the generations of Man through the male partners during the reproduction process (Psalms 51: 5).
Not only is this sin nature hostile towards God and the things of God, it is VERY receptive to all the false doctrines that the devil can generate. This receptiveness is what finds a home for Man-made “religion” in the souls of spiritually dead or spiritually immature believers.
The passing down of the sin nature via the male participant in the reproduction process is what took Adam out of the picture as being able to father an offspring that would have the capacity to atone for the sin debt of humanity.
Have no doubt about it, the, “the wages (payback/penalty) for sin is death (Rom. 6: 23). Divine discipline, here on Earth, can be manifested via physical (Acts 5) death of the body, but as far as future eternity is concerned, the ultimate penalty for sin is spiritual death, amounting to separation from the fellowship of God in the what the Bible calls the lake of fire.
The Lord Jesus Christ, in His humanity, suffered both spiritual death (Psalms 22: 1) and physical death (John 19: 30) on the cross. His spiritual death, while alive and shedding His blood, atone for the sin debt of the Mankind, whereas His physical death prepared Him for His resurrection.
Not only would Adam’s offspring not be able to produce an offspring capable of the work that Lord accomplished on the cross, all of his offspring would only perpetuate the continuation of the spiritual death condition throughout the generations of all Mankind.
ALL female offspring receive the same spiritual death condition and a hostile sin nature as do their male counterparts, from their own natural fathers. This places both the male and female members of the fallen human race in the same boat and with the same need for regeneration.
The only difference between the two is that it is through the male partner that the sin nature and its accompanying spiritual death condition is passed down to the humanity of the offspring produced.
As of the Fall, the devil had to of thought that he had won the spiritual battle between he and God, with the souls of Man being the spoils of war that he would receive.
At the very least, the devil knew that he achieved a great strategical advantage in the realm of spiritual combat (Eph. 6) with the generations of Man now be predisposed to receiving all of the deception that he could and would generate in the name of religion.
After all, if the devil was able to influence the Fall of Man at a time when Man was spiritually alive and not having a sin nature, the future generations that come into the world spiritually dead with a hostile sin nature should be easy prey (1 Pet. 5: 8).
The human race, that was created for the glory of God failed. Fallen Man was in a position that Man could be done to save themselves, and were not in a position to produce to the means to satisfy the death requirement (Rom. 6: 23) that the justice of God demands.
Nothing takes God by surprise, He knew that Man would Fall, just as He knew that the devil (in his created form-Ez. 28: 15, 16) would (and did) fail.
God’s plan of salvation was NOT a knee-jerk reaction to the Fall of Man. Every aspect of God’s plan for the salvation of Man (including the hypostatic union was planned out in the mind of God BEFORE the physical earth or Man were ever created (Rev. 13: 8).
To our benefit, the human reproduction process that God created did not exclude women as being the human means to give birth to a spiritually alive offspring, p-r-o-v-i-d-i-n-g one of them could conceive the same type (spiritually alive and without a sin nature) of sinless humanity that Adam and Eve had before the Fall.
If such a conception (without the involvement of a male human partner) were possible, the humanity of the offspring produced would not receive either the spiritual death condition or the accompanying sin nature that would have otherwise been passed down to it. God, without violating the free will of Man could bring about the MEANS for the salvation of Mankind.
The free-will of Man was not and is not compromised as each individual soul must choose to believe or disbelieve the Gospel, bringing about the blessing or the curse of that decision (John 3: 18).
With such a humanity, the Offspring would then have the means to atone for the world’s sin debt by being an acceptable, substitutionary (in our place) sacrifice.
“Therefore, when He comes into the world He says, Sacrifice and offering (Old Testament rituals) Thou has not desired (as a final solution), but a (human) body Thou has Prepared for Me (Heb. 10: 5).”
It would not be until thousands of years after Man fell that the identity of Mary as being the female human being who would be used of God to produce the humanity (Luke 1: 26-35) that the Lord Jesus Christ would take on at the First Advent.
Until then, the members of the human race were held accountable (and saved) by choosing to believe in the plan of God to the extent that it was made to known in the dispensations (periods of time) in which they lived.
Spiritual death is the condition of ALL human beings that come into this world via the human reproduction process (Psalms 51: 5).
Contrary to what religion would have us believe, the one and only remedy for this spiritual condition is the regenerating Work of God the Holy Spirit (Titus 3: 5) that automatically takes FOLLLOWING a conscious act of the soul choosing to believe in a presentation of the TRUE Gospel Message.
“Water” baptism rituals were a POST (after) salvation activity that involved adult believers AFTER they were born again. The “required” baptism as it pertains to salvation, is the work of God that automatically takes place at the moment of salvation when a soul chooses to believe in a presentation of the Gospel. Further details on the subject of baptism can be studied in the Doctrine of Baptism presentation.
Man, in the fallen state in which he/she comes into this world is. “… is hostile toward God; for it does NOT subject itself to the law of God, for it is not able to do so (Romans 8:7 NASB/italics mine).”
This is why Man, apart from the pre-salvation ministry of God the Holy Spirit making the Gospel understandable, cannot save himself. Because of the fallen nature he/she receives, he/she is predisposed to be hostile towards God and the things of God. It is the pre-salvation Work of God the Holy Spirit that makes the TRUE Gospel understandable so that the recipient of the Gospel Message can make an informed decision to believe or to reject it.
While producing the physical body (John 3: 6a) necessary for the soul that God (John 3: 6b) creates to exist here on Earth, the human reproduction process is also the means through which the spiritual death condition and the fallen (hostile) nature are conveyed to the offspring.
It’s not that Mary and Joseph could not produce offspring (Matt. 13: 55, 56), but that the offspring they could produce (with Joseph being involved) would not have escaped the passing down of the sin nature and the spiritual death condition.
Mary, (being female) could and was used by God to conceive (without Joseph) and deliver the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ at the first advent, without having the sin nature passed down to the His humanity.
Joseph did play an important role, as well. It was he who desired NOT to have Mary accused of infidelity (and likely stoned to death), preserving the developing humanity in her womb. After the Lord took on the humanity when it came forth at birth, Joseph continued to play a ey role in the preservation and safety of our Lord’s humanity. It was, in part, thorough Joseph’s faith and actions that protected the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ from a premature death. I believe that the timing of Joseph’s death (before the public ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ) was so that he would not unwittingly interfere with the Lord’s arrest, “conviction”, and “execution”, having devoted his life to the protection of the Lord’s humanity.
NO ONE should dispute the important roles that both Mary and Joseph played in the plan of God.
Without a doubt, the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ loved his earthly mother as much as any godly man loves his own. One of the last earthly deeds He produced while nailed to the cross, was to arrange for her care by John after His death (John 19: 27).
At the same time, neither Joseph nor Mary, or any other human being was ever raised up to be the recipient of prayer or any other form of worship or divine function that belongs to God alone.
What DID take place at the First Advent was that via the hypostatic union the Second Member of Trinity (God the Son) took on the form of sinless humanity in order to become the means in which He would atone for the world’s sin on the cross.
What did NOT take place, is that HE did not lose any of the divine attributes that HE has always, is now, and will forever share with God the Father and God the Son.
However, in order to accomplish the Work that He came to perform, there were times that the plan required that He function within the self-imposed limitations and restrictions of the humanity that He took upon Himself, and there were times that the plan of God called for Him to function with the divine attributes of Deity.
Perhaps in no other area of doctrine is it so important to compare Scripture with Scripture. Focusing ONLY on the documented times when He was functioning via the self-imposed limitations of His humanity (Heb. 4:15/Heb. 2:18/Matt. 4: 2, 6/Psalms 22: 1, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17/ Isa.52: 14/ Isa. 53: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11/Luke 22: 44), can cause one (as many “religions” do) to perceive in Him a diminished degree of Deity, or even deny that He was of Deity at all (Luke 22: 71).
At the same time, focusing ONLY on the documented times when He was clearly functioning via His Deity (Matt. 4: 23/Matt. 14: 25/ Matt. 15: 34-37/ Luke 4: 40. 41/Luke 5: 6, 13, 20/ Luke 7: 10, 14-15, Luke 8: 24, 29, 54/Luke 13: 13/ Luke 14: 4, etc.), cause persuade one to fail to appreciate the tremendous pressure and suffering He endured in His humanity in our behalf.
The Earthy purpose for the humanity He took on at the First Advent was “finished-John 19:30” when the atoning work on the cross was fully accomplished. Note, that at that moment, He was still physically alive, and even so, the atoning Work had already been accomplished.
The physical death and later rising of His dead human body was to set the stage for His eventual Ascension (Acts 1: 9), and for His Session (Psalms 110: 1/Matt. 22: 44) that is still in progress today. The Session will end at the Rapture (1 Thess. 4: 17) at its appointed time in the future.
His post burial appearances were for the purpose of providing evidence of the resurrection and that the justice of God had been fully satisfied (Acts 17: 31) via the Work that the Lord Jesus Christ had accomplished while physically alive and ON the cross.
On the evening following the crucifixion, His human body was wrapped in burial clothing (strips of material) and was placed in a tomb.
After the resurrection, He appeared to several persons in the same body (John 20: 27) that was placed in the tomb, but was now in resurrected form and no longer subject to the self-induced limitations that the same humanity imposed during the time of His Earthly ministry that led up to the cross (Luke 24: 31/).
When Scripture (Hebrews 13: 8) speaks of the immutability (never changing) attribute of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is speaking of His divine nature, not of His incarnation (taking on of human flesh) or of the changes in His body that took place as of the resurrection.
It is via the divine attributes of omnipotence (all powerful) and omnipresence (the ability to anywhere and everywhere at the same time) that enables all three Members of Trinity to indwell the human bodies of all born again believers here on Earth, as well as to occupy the throne room of God in the 3rd Heaven.
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